Big Problems With Vista Emerge

David Richards

Big problems are starting to emerge following the recent launch of Vista as several vendors admit that they are yet to upgrade application software to run on the new Microsoft OS.

Several SMB businesses are reporting potential upgrade problems with the likes of the Contact Tracker CRM software yet to be upgraded. Also causing problems is the lack of network card drivers. In a dire warning Apple has also told iTunes users to "wait" before upgrading their computers to Microsoft Windows Vista, saying its music software may not work properly.

As one CE retail store said "We run two lots of software across both accounting and CRM and neither have been upgraded to run under Vista. When we tried to load them to a Vista machine they failed to load properly".

Apple recently said that it was also aware of several issues including problems playing purchased files and synchronising data. Apple's support website said a new version of iTunes for Vista should be ready "in the next few weeks". iTunes allows computers to synch data with iPods. Vista, the newest version of Windows was launched 30 January.

One brand new desktop machine that had been upgraded to Vista the Explorer browser and the control manager started to scroll even when a mouse was not attached..

Compatibility issues

Apple outlined the compatibility issues and suggested workarounds for those already using Vista in a support document on its website.

Some problems listed were: failure to play music and video purchased from the iTunes store; poor animation performance; and a failure to automatically synchronize media, contacts and calendars.

Apple has also offered Vista users a downloadable tool that will "repair permissions for important files," but does not specify the precise nature of the incompatibility.

According to Associated Press newswires, the company has sold more than 90 million iPods since October 2001.

Microsoft response

Microsoft has a team working with Apple to make iTunes fully functional on Windows Vista, Adam Anderson, a Microsoft Windows spokesman told AP.

He added that the company did not believe these issues were a reason stop using Vista.

When Vista launched, Microsoft said more than 5,000 hardware and software products were already compatible with the operating system.

Both Apple and Microsoft declined to comment on the issue further.

SMARTHOUSE

ERP competition heating up in Europe

Oracle and Sage closing on SAP, reports IDC.

Competition is heating up among vendors in the Western European enterprise resource planning (ERP) applications market, analysts report.

A new IDC study revealed that SAP's overall ERP applications market share made it the leader in all verticals in Western Europe in 2005.

However, at the country level, Oracle and Sage are now challenging SAP's leadership in verticals such as communications, public sector, finance, business services and retail/wholesale in countries such as the UK and France.

"Oracle leaped ahead in its focus industries with its acquisition of PeopleSoft," said Bo Lykkegaard, programme manager for Western European enterprise applications at IDC.

"But Sage has improved its position across most verticals via its domination of the small and midsize company segment in Europe by acquisitions and organic growth."

According to the report, manufacturing makes up approximately 40 per cent of the total ERP applications market, with discrete manufacturing being significantly larger than process manufacturing.

Retail/wholesale is the third largest ERP industry segment. Traditional IT intensive industries, financial services and communications make up only 15 per cent of the market when combined. The public sector makes up another 15 per cent.

"IDC sees further industry concentration ahead in the ERP applications market," added Lykkegaard.

"This concentration will largely be acquisition-driven. Infor's recent acquisitions of SSA Global, Geac and Systems Union will catapult it ahead in the manufacturing and distribution sectors."

Copyright © 2007 vnunet.com

Open-source firms team up for interoperability

Nice meeting you!

Salentica Systems Extends its CRM Functionality to “Anywhere, Anytime”
PR Web - PR Web (press release) - Feb 8, 2007
Following the release of CRM Mobile Express for Microsoft® Dynamics ™ CRM 3. 0, Salentica will extend the functionality of its solution. Extending the core functionality of Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3. 0 to mobile devices will allow Salentica users to access and update all the information they need from their CRM, anywhere, anytime. Salentica Mobile Express is device independent and only requires the mobile device to support HTML web pages. Firms can deploy a zero foot print application and let the users decide their mobile device of choice, whether Windows Mobile or other device. Updates from the mobile client are written directly into the CRM database, eliminating the issues around synchronization... "About Salentica Systems Inc. Salentica provides client management solutions for buy- and sell-side financial service firms, built around the Microsoft. NET platform and Microsoft CRM. Salentica extends the platform by creating purpose built components to address specific needs of the financials services market. Salentica’s customer base includes many of North America’s largest financial services firms in mutual fund wholesaling, investment banks, institutional asset management, private wealth management, retail brokerage and insurance. Contact: Bill Rourke, President Salentica Systems Inc. 212-672-1777 ext 222416 366-3456 ext.
http://www.prweb.com/releases/2006/10/prweb445594.htm

Open-source firms team up for interoperability
CNET News.com - Feb 13, 2007
Founding members of the group--called the. OpenSolutionsAlliance. The companies plan to announce the group's formation Wednesday at the Open Solutions Summit, an open-source conference in New York.
http://news.com.com/2100-7344_3-6159182.html

Build Customer Relationships--Just Don't Call It CRM
Destination CRM - Feb 8, 2007
and it's just so cheap," he says. "From what I'm hearing so far it's extremely similar to Siebel in its basic use and the features it has. "In fact it was so tempting, according to Ziegele, that Consolidated ordered it in early April. "We're [getting] going with five people, for like five grand," he says, adding that a small pilot was probably the only approach for which he could have gotten approval. He thinks of the pilot as a way to try before you buy. Ziegele finds the features appealing, as well: "It has a Web interface, but also runs through Outlook.
http://www.destinationcrm.com/articles/default.asp?ArticleID=4100

365 Days of CRM
Destination CRM - Feb 9, 2007
And industry leaders' earnings were lackluster at best. But through it all CRM continued to mature, vendors shook up the market, and many companies garnered their share of ROI. What follows is a look at the highlights--and low lights--of the year in CRM.
http://www.destinationcrm.com/articles/default.asp?ArticleID=2734

Regional business news, at a glance
Arizona Republic - Feb 11, 2007
The upgrades offer direct integration with Microsoft Outlook, simplified administration and field-level data security. Sage also said the new Sage CRM SalesLogix v7 product suite is available. The new version includes interactive sales dashboards, mobile support and productivity enhancements. ACT! contact-management software and SalesLogix customer-relationship-management software are produced by Sage's Scottsdale office.
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/business/articles/0926biz-regionalbriefs0926.html

Wi-Fi and VOIP near full convergence
InfoWorld - Feb 14, 2007
Now let's look at those applications. See, here I'm a little pessimistic. Sure, we'll see more IP telephony-capable features in stuff like CRM and vertical apps, but I'm doubtful about seeing anything truly revolutionary. At least not this year. This is going to be the year that phones start talking to customer databases, scheduling client appointments, talking to inventory systems.
http://www.infoworld.com/article/07/02/14/08OPenterwin_1.html?PHONES

IN BETA: May the Force Be With You
Destination CRM - Feb 8, 2007
com: IN BETA: May the Force Be With You. com is reinventing itself with what CEO Marc Benioff says is the company's most significant release since launching its hosted CRM product... The S3 upgrade represents what CEO Marc Benioff says is Salesforce. com's most significant release since launching its hosted CRM product in June 2000. Some of the upgrades under the S3 umbrella include HTML rich-media emails designed to enable salespeople to send email massages consistent with the messaging that the marketing department has created, and to enable marketing folks to track the emails; upgrades with Microsoft Outlook so users can click to add any email to S3 for organizationwide visibility and search Salesforce. com's contacts or leads database within Microsoft Outlook; and a shared document library for marketing collateral, presentations, sales tools, and customer support materials that catalogs files into different folders without having to log into a separate file system.
http://www.destinationcrm.com/articles/default.asp?ArticleID=3326

PRM Is Not So Different From CRM After All
Destination CRM - Feb 8, 2007
Paul Greenberg is fine, thank you. But, I want to change the moniker of the class of CRM applications known as partner relationship management (PRM) to something else: CRM for collaborative sales (CRM-CS). I know you are thinking, "This is worth writing about?" Believe me, it is, because CRM-CS is too important to your business for you to ignore... Paul Greenberg is fine, thank you. But, I want to change the moniker of the class of CRM applications known as partner relationship management (PRM) to something else: CRM for collaborative sales (CRM-CS). I know you are thinking, "This is worth writing about?" Believe me, it is, because CRM-CS is too important to your business for you to ignore. Bite on it--I'm going to give you something to chew.
http://www.destinationcrm.com/articles/default.asp?ArticleID=3163

destinationCRM.com: New & Noteworthy
Destination CRM - Feb 8, 2007
comOnline CRM Salesnet announced that it has integrated instant messaging capabilities from AOL, Microsoft, and Yahoo! into its wireless CRM application. The addition is designed to allow sales teams to IM the Salesnet database for real-time contact information and other sales data, as well as to IM updates to that information back to the system.
http://www.destinationcrm.com/articles/default.asp?ArticleID=3331

OSBC - Sun seeks to woo HP to Solaris
Computerworld Australia - Feb 8, 2007
Following Schwartz's presentation, Microsoft's Bill Hilf, director of the vendor's Platform Technology Strategy organization, focused on the concept of "coopetition," through which competitors can share a common business interest. "It's the idea of cooperating and competing often in the same breath with the same people," Hilf said. Microsoft certainly has not been a major proponent of open source. But Hilf pointed out that Microsoft can benefit from it just the same. Open source companies JBoss and SugarCRM have partnered with Microsoft, as have more traditional vendors such as Sun and IBM, Hilf noted. SugarCRM, for example, will offer a version of its CRM package on Windows via Microsoft's Shared Source license, which allows some access to source code. Microsoft, however, is conscious that new business models in computing may not generate as much as older models, Hilf said... But Hilf pointed out that Microsoft can benefit from it just the same. Open source companies JBoss and SugarCRM have partnered with Microsoft, as have more traditional vendors such as Sun and IBM, Hilf noted. SugarCRM, for example, will offer a version of its CRM package on Windows via Microsoft's Shared Source license, which allows some access to source code. Microsoft, however, is conscious that new business models in computing may not generate as much as older models, Hilf said. Product differentiation still is key and making money matters, he said. "I don't believe selling tech support phone calls is a model [that is] sustainable," said Hilf. "You must differentiate in your product to sustain growth.
http://www.computerworld.com.au/index.php/id;1409875335;fp;16;fpid;0

Computerworld - Reviving CRM
Computerworld Australia - Feb 9, 2007
(Let's not kid ourselves: The customer list is what you're spending those billions for. ) With a change in ownership, every Siebel customer is suddenly in play. And with competitors like SAP, Microsoft and especially Salesforce. com lusting after every one of those customers, either you give them a reason to stay or you lose them. A truly visionary future would be one heck of a reason to stay. Besides, you know how the alternative plays out. You've already seen it.
http://www.computerworld.com.au/index.php/id;114960255;fp;16;fpid;0

… POP3 Email Integration Within it's On-Demand Sales...
PR Web - PR Web (press release) - Feb 13, 2007
The new feature allows ClienTracker. com users to create information repositories that track complete history of all communications company-wide. The combination of email and CRM in a single application comes as good news to companies who are currently using multiple software applications to track email, manage clients, and maintain schedules... The combination of email and CRM in a single application comes as good news to companies who are currently using multiple software applications to track email, manage clients, and maintain schedules. Plus, the web-distributed model of ClienTracker. com allows users to access their data and email from any computer with an internet connection, freeing them from complicated remote access processes such as Microsoft Exchange and VPNs. "Recording and tracking inbound and outbound corporate e-mails, and being able to view complete histories along side associated prospects, clients or opportunities no longer requires an expensive solution like Siebel or SAP, nor does it require the user to operate multiple applications at once. " said David Anderson, CTO of ClienTracker. �Plus, we can implement the solution in a matter of days, while those packages take months or years to install and configure. �Companies across all industries are under pressure to develop policies concerning retention and audit procedures regarding their e-mail and electronic documents.
http://www.prweb.com/releases/2005/3/prweb221975.htm

Aspire Technologies, Inc. and MasterMine Software Announce Launch of...
PR Web - PR Web (press release) - Feb 8, 2007
About Aspire Technologies and QuoteWerks™Aspire Technologies, the creators of the award winning QuoteWerks™ sales quoting software, is the leading provider of sales quoting software with its award winning QuoteWerks™ application deployed to thousands of businesses and enterprises worldwide. QuoteWerks™ integrates with all major and leading CRM packages including ACT!™, Goldmine®, Maximizer®, MS CRM, Outlook®, TeleMagic®, salesforce. com® and SalesLogix® enabling businesses in all industries to integrate QuoteWerks™ seamlessly into their existing environments. Aspire Technologies is headquartered in Orlando, Florida and is a Microsoft Certified Partner. For more information please visit... QuoteWerks™ integrates with all major and leading CRM packages including ACT!™, Goldmine®, Maximizer®, MS CRM, Outlook®, TeleMagic®, salesforce. com® and SalesLogix® enabling businesses in all industries to integrate QuoteWerks™ seamlessly into their existing environments. Aspire Technologies is headquartered in Orlando, Florida and is a Microsoft Certified Partner. For more information please visit.
http://www.prweb.com/releases/2006/7/prweb413478.htm

Talisma Starts 2006 Strong With Record Customer Growth Company Laps...
PR Web - PR Web (press release) - Feb 13, 2007
Talisma also extended its global reach by signing agreements with new channel partners in Australia, Belgium, China, France, Israel, Germany and the United Kingdom. The 2006 Talisma Customer Conference, held in March, garnered record-breaking attendance and featured dozens of customer presentations. Companies including AOL, Microsoft, Dell, Epson, eSignal, Pitney Bowes, and ShareBuilder detailed how they use the Talisma solution to increase customer satisfaction, drive revenue, and increase business efficiencies. Additionally, analysts from Forrester Research and eVergance gave keynote presentations and moderated panel discussions. Talisma also received industry accolades in the first quarter, capturing CRM Magazine's 2006 Service Leader award for Web-support services and Call Center Magazine's "Best of Call Center Demo & Conference Austin 2006" for Talisma Professional Edition, designed to meet the needs of small and mid-sized businesses. "The dramatic growth across our strategic CIM business and on-going CRM vertical businesses, new key partnerships, and expanded sales geographies position Talisma for still greater success in 2006," said Dan Vetras, CEO, Talisma Corporation. "Our momentum just continues to intensify and Talisma is now being looked upon as the thought leader in our strategic markets... Additionally, analysts from Forrester Research and eVergance gave keynote presentations and moderated panel discussions. Talisma also received industry accolades in the first quarter, capturing CRM Magazine's 2006 Service Leader award for Web-support services and Call Center Magazine's "Best of Call Center Demo & Conference Austin 2006" for Talisma Professional Edition, designed to meet the needs of small and mid-sized businesses. "The dramatic growth across our strategic CIM business and on-going CRM vertical businesses, new key partnerships, and expanded sales geographies position Talisma for still greater success in 2006," said Dan Vetras, CEO, Talisma Corporation. "Our momentum just continues to intensify and Talisma is now being looked upon as the thought leader in our strategic markets. " About TalismaTalisma is a global provider of Customer Interaction Management (CIM) solutions that enable businesses to deliver a truly exceptional customer experience. Talisma's solutions integrate the power of email, phone, chat, and self service with a robust and mature customer interaction management Web services platform, comprehensive analytics, and a system-wide knowledgebase. Talisma's global customers include AOL, Aviva, Betdaq, Canon, ChevronTexaco, Citibank, Dacorum Borough Council, Daimler-Chrysler, Dell, DHL, E.
http://www.prweb.com/releases/2006/4/prweb374722.htm

Bye.

Does Software Automation Help Increase your Bottom Line?

When you own a small business, time is money. And every time a task that should be automated is handled manually, it wastes your time and your business loses money. To make matters even worse, performing these tasks manually, in front of clients or prospects, projects the wrong image.

Even though technology is readily available and even affordable, many small business owners do not take full advantage of these powerful software packages. It may be hard to believe, but only a small percentage of business owners have the technical expertise necessary to handle the automation process. The others have neither the time to learn nor the ability to hire the experts to do the job.

But one thing is certain: One way to increase your business's bottom line is to get software that automates the tasks you do manually and consequently, inefficiently.

Something as simple as contact management software is so valuable. First and foremost, searching for contact information is never more than a few mouse clicks away. Some software will even allow you to access this data while away from you office.

Have you finally mastered your email system? Love the way it keeps you off the phone? If you're not careful, you'll soon be wasting as much time responding to your email as you did returning your phone calls.

There's not enough space to list all the benefits of using autoresponders or all the ways to utilize autoresponders in your business. Here are just a few - use them to send out product and pricing information, to capture contact names and addresses, to help with frequently asked questions (FAQs) lists, to deliver different chapters of an e-book - anything that keeps your company name in front of existing or potential customers can be handled more efficiently using an autoresponder.

Raise your hand if you're still carrying around your paperbound daily planner! Throw it away and get software to keep track of your appointments and those of all your employees. You'll appreciate how easy it is to know who's doing what and when.

And think about how much time you spend each year gathering the paperwork your accountant needs at tax time to prepare your company income taxes. Why allow your accountant to charge you his or her hourly rate to do the type of data entry you could have been doing all year long IF you had only purchased AND installed business accounting software.

If you think, "Well, I do this only once a year," you are right, but remember, there are many more income-generating things you can do with the time you are wasting. Every second of saved time helps your business operate more efficiently.

Even the most automated of offices is doomed should your hardware ever crash and your data not be backed up. And we're not talking about "if" this crisis will occur; we're talking about "when" it will occur. There are so many easy-to-use and affordable backup software programs available that you've no good excuse for not backing up your valuable data.

There are many other business tasks you can automate but there's not enough room to list them all. Tasks like project management, employee management and inventory management are more efficient when they are automated. You can even translate your paper marketing and sales information for fast and easy delivery via the Internet.

There's no end to the list of office tasks that can be automated using the software that is readily available today. Put together an office automation budget and decide which tasks are the most important to automate. Then get going - you've got work to do!

Is Windows losing out and Linux gaining?

Give me five!

Avidian Prophet 4.0 Personal Edition
PC World - Feb 5, 2007
0 Personal Edition. 0, contact manager, Outlook, Avidian, Prophet, 4... -->
Richard Morochove
Monday, February 05, 2007 01:00 AM PST



If business sales leads seem to be trickling through your fingers, you need a good customer relationship management (CRM) application to help you keep closer track of your sales opportunities. Avidian's Prophet 4. 0--a simple and easy-to-use CRM add-on for Microsoft's Outlook--can help you convert mere opportunities into actual sales. I tested the shipping version of the single-PC, $150 Prophet Personal Edition and found the installation straightforward, albeit a tad time-consuming. Prophet seamlessly integrates with Outlook, adding a new mail folder and toolbar to the e-mail client. 0 introduces the ability to set follow-up actions at each sales stage.
http://www.pcworld.com/printable/article/id,128655/printable.html

Is Windows losing out and Linux gaining?
Economic Times - Feb 4, 2007
Meanwhile in West Bengal too, Linux is
seen as a cost-saving solution in many e-governance projects. Other governments,
such as Tamil Nadu and Karnataka too have various projects running on
Linux. David-Golliath
Alliance

What’s more — what looked like a
David-Goliath battle between Microsoft and Linux now has Goliath crossing over
to David’s side. It started with the Microsoft’s alliance with
Novell, and its attention-grabbing presence at the recently-held Linux Asia in
New Delhi. While Linux distributors such as Red Hat and Novell see it as a sign
of acknowledgement that “Linux is now a mature technology”,
Microsoft contends that it has customers that have servers running on different
operating systems and with inter-operability becoming an issue, it had to step
in to solve the problem for them. For anyone who had doubts that
Linux might work in India, considering the tardy nature of tech adoption here,
there are IDC figures that show that in terms of server shipments, Linux had a
market share of 19... But clearly there’s room for
coexistence of both proprietary and open source. Says Mr Arora of IDC:
“There are some areas such as web workload, firewalls and high performance
computing, where Linux has a strong presence. Windows, on the other hand has a
sound position in business processing, CRM (customer relations management),
messaging, collaborating, etc. ” But don’t be surprised if Microsoft
has been racking it’s collective brainpower to get into these areas too. “We are working with SGI to get into the high performance computing space
too,” says Balakrishnan. Experts pooh-pooh that. In
the case of high performance computing or HPC, the world’s top 500
computers run on Linux.
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/msid-1559206,prtpage-1.cms

Inclusiveness is new Oracle search word
Register - Feb 5, 2007
8, which is now capable of supporting data sources and object stores from at least five major third party providers. Oracle Enterprise Search 10g supports Microsoft Exchange and Sharepoint software, IBM's Lotus Notes, and enterprise content management systems from Open Text, FileNet and EMC Documentum... Out of the boxSecure Enterprise Search is set to grow in importance for Oracle. Currently available as a stand-alone search tool, Oracle is to make it available in all its applications. Secure Enterprise Search is already shipping out-of-the box as part of Siebel CRM 8, announced last week. Oracle Enterprise Search indexes and searches public, private and shared content in websites, databases, file and mail servers, CMS and document repositories. It's secure because Oracle's identity management software stops users from accessing data sources and documents they are not allowed to view. According to Oracle, its search combines the ease of use of an internet search engine that users have now come to expect from all their search tools, with the data and identity management rules that ensure users only get access to the information they are entitled to. By adding search to applications such as Siebel, Oracle expects help business users find and use corporate information.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/02/05/oracle_enterprise_search/

Sage Updates Its CRM Platform
eWeek - Feb 1, 2007
"The new features of SageCRM v6 are focused on improving user adoption, specifically through enhanced usability and administration," said Travis Nisbett, ACT! product manager for Sage Software, based in Scottsdale, Ariz. Sage's latest CRM platform includes data segmentation functionalities for updating groups, advanced search categories and system administration tools such as a territory tree that can be used to move records from one sales territory to another, as well as the ability to update data fields... SageCRM v6 can be used in conjunction with Microsoft Outlook as users can add new business contacts to Outlook while also searching for records. This feature also allows users to file individual e-mails or bundles of e-mails sent from Outlook in SageCRM. SageCRM v6 is available now for on-premises deployment and the on-demand platform, SageCRM. com, will be available beginning in March. Costs vary based on deployment option, number of users and feature sets.
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,2089546,00.asp

Microsoft Announces 2006 Pharmaceutical and Life Sciences Innovation...
PresseBox - PresseBox (Pressemitteilung)(abonnement) - Feb 5, 2007
today announced winners of the Microsoft® Pharmaceutical and Life Sciences Innovation Awards 2006, honoring the breakthrough contributions that new and innovative solutions are making in the pharmaceutical and life sciences industry in the areas of sales and marketing, manufacturing and supply chain, and clinical development. The awards, announced at the annual meeting of the Drug Information Association (DIA) in Philadelphia, were given to companies that have demonstrated the best use of Microsoft-based solutions for breakthroughs in business processes and practices in each of the categories. �At Microsoft, we believe that innovative technology use in life sciences can create revolutionary new ways of doing business, resulting in breakthroughs in research, product innovation and corporate performance,� said Steve Shihadeh, general manager of healthcare and life sciences at Microsoft. �The companies we are recognizing today exemplify a transformative use of technology and are helping their people better connect and collaborate, as well as make more-informed decisions that drive overall business success. �

Award Winners

Award participants consisted of worldwide life sciences corporations in biotechnology, diagnostics, medical equipment and devices, pharmaceuticals, animal health, nutritional products, and consumer health products. The winners of this year�s Pharmaceutical and Life Sciences Innovation Awards are listed here:

Sales and Marketing

� GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) Inc. , Mississauga, Ontario... The solution has allowed GSK to dramatically reduce the cycle time between introducing a new product marketing campaign and measuring its results. By using Proscape�s software, a sales representative can easily, quickly and effectively convey key product information in an engaging and memorable way through multimedia presentations running on the Tablet PC. Based on data from GSK�s CRM application, these presentations can be tailored for different market segments, thereby maximizing their educational value. Manufacturing and Supply Chain

� ALTANA Pharma AG, Konstanz, Germany. ALTANA Pharma AG is the pharmaceutical division of ALTANA AG (FSE: ALT, NYSE: AAA), which has its headquarters in Konstanz, Germany. ALTANA Pharma is an internationally successful, research-based company providing innovative pharmaceuticals that create a higher quality of life for patients, modern jobs for highly qualified employees, and a good return for shareholders. In 2005, ALTANA Pharma AG implemented Wassermann AG�s wayRTS (Real Time Simulation) solution � a 64-bit application using Windows Server® 2003, Visual Studio® 2005, Visual SourceSafe® and the 2003 Microsoft Office system � for the operational planning, simulation and scheduling of its largest supply chain across three production sites and eight sales units.
http://www.pressebox.de/pressemeldungen/wassermann-ag/boxid-66565.html

See you.

From the First Contact

Medium sized companies once got relatively little attention from sales automation vendors. Large companies were well served by the big-time CRM suppliers and major consulting firms, while small businesses could make do with contact management-based systems. But not much was available for firms with 100 to 500 users. That's changed recently with the introduction of several good products aimed squarely at the mid-range.

Client Management Software (CMS) from ON!contact Software Corp. is an example of a program designed to help medium-sized enterprises keep their marketing, sales and customer service on track.

CMS is an excellent fit for companies looking for easy-to-use, feature-rich automation in which all users across the entire enterprise can work on one system for sales, marketing and customer service. Companies should consider CMS if they are looking for software that can be integrated with third-party applications (such as financial management and ERP) to enable true enterprise-wide sales and workflow management. What's more, CMS can be customized to mirror a company's exact business methodologies and requirements.

Keeping Track of Contacts
This program's powerful enterprise-centric view gives you great flexibility when managing contacts. The main screen is based on the enterprise, and you can see all contacts associated with the entire enterprise. Vital enterprise information is also maintained in the left-hand portion of the main screen - including the enterprise name, address, city, state, zip, phone, fax and Web address. For your convenience, the Web address is integrated with a Web browser so you can automatically bring up the enterprise's Web page. In the right-hand column of the main page is the contact tree; the view of the individual contacts can then be expanded to show other information, such as contact title, phone and fax number. Enterprise history, contact history, attachments, opportunity management and profiles are some of the other tabs that come standard with CMS.

You can enter an unlimited number of contacts, and the data entry logic can be customized for ease of use and data validation. The program has a zip code database that automatically completes the city, state and country codes fields. Fields can also be set with security measures to prevent changes.

CMS has robust, customizable features for scheduling - you can schedule one activity at a time or assign one activity to many contacts simultaneously. The software is easy to navigate, so you can quickly move from one record to another.

Working Your Opportunities
Designed for a team selling environment, the software's Opportunity Management System (OMS) is a customizable module that lets you configure an opportunity, set objectives, chart the organizational hierarchy, track interest levels, identify a competitor's position, share activity data and send important reminders between various team players.

Each business opportunity can be tracked for source, interest, opportunity type, opportunity worth, opportunity status and likelihood of closure. OMS can also track when the opportunity was opened, where it is located, when the opportunity is expected to close and when it actually does.

If you have sales opportunities that involve a variety if contacts, this software can track that, too. for example, a particular sales opportunity might involve players from ABC software company and XYZ consulting firm. With OMS, you can track all the contacts associated with the opportunity as well as the different rules they play in the opportunity, be it strong influence or decision making.

The OMS also tracks opportunity workflow steps. Depending on the type of opportunity, specific workflow steps can be automatically assigned to an individual or to a sales team. As these steps are completed the percent to closure can be automatically updated. With this workflow tracking, sales management can have a more meaningful indication of the true percentage to closure, since it's tied to performance on the opportunity.

When an opportunity reaches 50 percent potential to close, the software's Agent can automatically send an email to the sales manager noting that the opportunity should be reviewed for further action. Another useful Agent is the OMS Wizard Agent, which is invoked when a new opportunity is defined. The Wizard brings users through a set of screens and prompts them to enter appropriate information to effectively define a new sales opportunity. Again, Agent technology can be invoked from anywhere in the OMS.

Making an Impact on Sales
One of CMS' guiding principles is effective Sales Cycle Management (SCM). Combined with Client Management Software Agent technology, SCM is a direct vehicle for putting your sales methodology into an automated application on an enterprise-wide basis. SCM and CMS Agent technology do much more than just automate sales cycles, however. Together they can also serve as a prompting and chaining system, improving the system's usability and saving your staff time and effort. This application complements and reinforces the actions you take, guiding you through every stage of the sales process and preventing leads from falling through the cracks. Because no two sales are alike, you can also easily tailor the application for individual opportunities.

Because an automation system is only as good as the data you enter, this software's prompting feature pulls you through the entire sales process so that consistent and accurate information is obtained without having to remember what to do next. Prompts ensure that all activities, and notes regarding those activities are entered into the system. Prompts can be created anywhere in the application to pull you to the next appropriate steps a workflow or sales process. There are many areas where command shortcuts can also be customized to your specifications, using the toolbar, tabs, right mouse click and command buttons available on any screen.

Chains, for their part, allow you to control the sequence of activities that take place throughout the sales cycle. By setting up a chain, the system automatically schedules the next activity. For example, you could set up a chain related to an activity or result code. Once a call is entered into CMS, that activity can trigger a chain for information to go out later that day and for a call to be scheduled 10 days later as a follow-up.

Customer relationship management software review

It is undeniable that the most critical activities in any company revolve around customer relationship management (CRM), because your company's reputation rides on every contact. However, effective CRM pulls many diverse company resources into play to provide the service and attention necessary for successfully closing sales and meeting customer needs -- creating the potential for an integration nightmare.

Answering this call for help is OnContact Software's recently released OnContact Client Management Software (CMS) 4.0, which promises to seamlessly integrate your company's resources with a single front-office application for your marketing, sales, and customer-service needs. In fact, this update to CMS adds the capability to define custom workflows and consolidate all of a customer's interactions in a single view -- along with flexible integration options and a problem-tracking and reporting module.

The workflow and customer-view enhancements are critical to solidifying the services aspect of your CRM implementation. For example, a customer calling for help on a malfunction knows well the history that brought him or her to this point -- and has a reasonable expectation to find a similar awareness on the other side of the line. If your customer service representatives fail to demonstrate awareness of this history, there's potential for permanent customer dissatisfaction.

Providing this high level of service can't be done using traditional transaction-oriented applications, because they lack the capability to flexibly handle ongoing relationships and workflow. So the addition of workflow and consolidated customer views is critical.

In my tests of CMS 4.0, I was very impressed by its exceptional flexibility to embrace dissimilar technical environments and to convey targeted information exactly where and when it is required.

As a front-office solution, CMS doesn't compete with Web-based and client-driven software from Inference, Edify, ServiceSoft, Serviceware, Primus, and Moss Micro. But tight integration with existing resources such as enterprise resource planning systems, myriad databases, and Microsoft's Outlook gives it the depth of some high-end solutions from Baan, Onyx, and Siebel.

Tackling implementation

Installing a front-office automation product such as CMS is not a simple task: In addition to the trivial operation of installing the software, you need to integrate its functionality with your existing technical infrastructure -- and organizational working habits.

For example, your salespeople need access to customer transaction histories, which implies links to existing databases and applications. Also desirable is e-mail, computer-telephony, and fax-systems integration.

Thus, setting up a CRM system can mean creating a new vision for your company's data and technological gears, with the objective of providing better customer service. Turning your transaction-oriented data into this new, service-oriented view requires a coordinated effort among affected departments, the IT personnel, and quite possibly a helping hand from the vendor.

Once those critical logistic needs are satisfied, you can turn your attention to building (or importing) your contact database and defining that mesh of relationships and processes that your company's policy and workflow demand.

CMS provides the necessary tools to facilitate this initial setup, including tools for importing contact information from an existing database or attaching the information to the corporate e-mail system. However, some of these tools are not very user-friendly and may be best tackled with vendor assistance.

I tried -- without success -- to import data from one of my databases, and after a sequence of frustrating dead-ends, I called the vendor for help. Once I explained my problem, I was politely but firmly reminded that some customizations require vendor-provided training and know-how. I had a similar experience trying to integrate Microsoft Outlook with CMS.

However, linking CMS to your company's pipes will probably be a one-time event. Whether you choose to train your staff or use vendor support, it requires additional time and cost that you should plan for.

Key customization tools

The good news is that using two key components -- Agent Designer and Forms Painter -- was a completely different experience than the initial setup. Agent Designer and Forms Painter define sequences of operations for an activity and the subset of data from the corporate database that you want to associate with it.

The combination of Agent Designer and Forms Painter gives CMS the flexibility to work by your company's rules -- a key strength. These two components provide you with a high-level, GUI-based programming language that you use to create all of the necessary logic and the data associated with your customer relationship activities.

For example, using Agent Designer, you can create an agent to schedule a follow-up call or generate an automatic e-mail message to the account manager every time a client calls for technical support.

CMS agents can contain conditional logic based on data fields selected within Forms Painter. The agents are automatically triggered when the user selects an activity associated with that agent. For example, you can design a view showing the history of all customer contacts, and a SQL query associated with that agent will extract the history from your database.

How to make knowledge stick

One of the criticisms that challenge IT staff most often is that they indulge too much on the technology at the expense of the information content. That criticism appears to have some merit if we consider that the gigabytes of information stored in our corporate databases are often held captive by inflexible access rules that make unscheduled requests difficult to satisfy.

However, solutions such as CMS bring that enslaved knowledge out to where it is most needed: the front end of your company, where stores of information can be put to work for your sales, marketing, and support departments.

Once I completed the necessary piping to my existing infrastructure, I had immediate access through the user component of CMS to information that could be easily shaped to serve a new purpose: customer service.

CMS' view of a company's data revolves around the concept of "enterprise." You view and define each of your customers via an Enterprise window in which obvious transactional data, such as name, location, and addresses, walk hand-in-hand with a company profile. The company profile is where you store marketing data such as industry classification, number of employees, and dollar sales.

Again, the content and the format that CMS displays in each window can be easily personalized to your company using the administrative tools. In addition, you can program CMS to import or display data from your existing databases.

Enhanced customer view

I was able to quickly insert a new client record into the system thanks to an easy-to-use GUI that takes advantage of drop-down fields to speed up data entry and even make corrections as you type. After completing my record, a prompt asked for contact information.

Entering a new contact triggered CMS to propose an activity window, where I could schedule an action to follow up on that contact. My options let me define the activity (phone call, e-mail, etc.), assign a person responsible for that activity, set up an automatic e-mail message at the completion of the activity, and link that activity to a marketing campaign or a sales opportunity.

In minutes, I had a new Enterprise window with my customer's basic information and the contact, along with follow-up activities that were already scheduled. This integration is where solutions such as CMS shine: It brings together a wealth of information that you can use to serve your customers better.

CMS 4.0 also offers a support module called CMS Service to record technical support calls using the same enterprise-oriented philosophy. You can easily activate the new module with a simple right-click of your mouse on the Support tab in the customer's Enterprise window, which opens up the Incident window. From the Incident window, you can easily enter the details of each incident, assign a solution for the problem, and suggest a sales opportunity.

For example, in my hypothetical PC reseller scenario, repeated support calls for a PC that failed to restart graciously after a power failure suggested the opportunity to sell an uninterruptible power supply to that customer -- for the benefit of the sales personnel.